Awkwafina To Host New Apple TV Food Series… Despite Freely Admitting She Can’t Cook

Apple TV is serving up a new travel and food series starring Awkwafina, and the premise is instantly relatable: she comes from a restaurant family… and still has no idea what she’s doing in the kitchen.

The upcoming unscripted series, The Unlikely Cook, has been ordered for eight episodes, though a premiere date hasn’t been announced yet.

The show will follow Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum, as she travels across the U.S. exploring contemporary Asian American cuisine while reconnecting with her family’s culinary roots.

Her grandparents ran Lum’s, a Cantonese restaurant in Flushing, New York, widely considered the city’s first Chinese restaurant. Food legacy? Impressive. Actual cooking skills? Work in progress.

The concept leans into that contrast, with Awkwafina openly acknowledging she grew up around the restaurant world but never learned how to cook herself. Now she’s diving in headfirst, guided by chefs, restaurateurs and family members along the way.

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Apple teased the series on social media with a fittingly honest pitch: Awkwafina is cooking… or at least attempting to.

Expect a mix of travel, culture, family history and the occasional kitchen disaster as she tries to figure out what it really takes to master Asian cuisine.

Which, if we’re being honest, is probably more relatable than watching yet another celebrity who suddenly “loves cooking” the moment a camera shows up.

Sometimes the best food shows aren’t about perfection. They’re about curiosity, chaos, and learning on the fly… preferably without setting off the smoke alarm.